Francisco De Zurbaran

Francisco de Zurbaran (November 7, 1598 - August 27, 1664) was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbaran gained the nickname Spanish Caravaggio, owing to the forceful, realistic use of chiaroscuro in which he excelled.

He was born at Fuente de Cantos in Extremadura, the son of Luis Zurbaran, a haberdasher, and his wife, Isabel Marquez. In childhood he set about imitating objects with charcoal. In 1614 his father sent him to Seville to apprentice for three years with Pedro Diaz de Villanueva, an artist of whom very little is known.

It is unknown whether Zurbaran had the opportunity to copy the paintings of Michelangelo da Caravaggio, at any rate, he adopted Caravaggio's realistic use of chiaroscuro. The painter who may have had the greatest influence on his characteristically severe compositions was Juan Sanchez Cotan. Polychrome sculpture-which by the time of Zurbaran's apprenticeship had reached a level of sophistication in Seville that surpassed that of the local painters-provided another important stylistic model for the young artist, the work of Juan Martinez Montanes is especially close to Zurbaran's in spirit.

He painted directly from nature, and he made great use of the lay-figure in the study of draperies, in which he was particularly proficient. He had a special gift for white draperies, as a consequence, the houses of the white-robed Carthusians are abundant in his paintings. To these rigid methods, Zurbaran is said to have adhered throughout his career, which was prosperous, wholly confined to Spain, and varied by few incidents beyond those of his daily labour. His subjects were mostly severe and ascetic religious vigils, the spirit chastising the flesh into subjection, the compositions often reduced to a single figure. The style is more reserved and chastened than Caravaggio's, the tone of color often quite bluish. Exceptional effects are attained by the precisely finished foregrounds, massed out largely in light and shade.

While in Seville, Zurbaran married Leonor de Jordera, by whom he had several children. Towards 1630 he was appointed painter to Philip IV, and there is a story that on one occasion the sovereign laid his hand on the artist's shoulder, saying "Painter to the king, king of painters." After 1640 his austere, harsh, hard edged style was unfavorably compared to the sentimental religiosity of Murillo and Zurbaran's reputation declined. It was only in 1658, late in Zurbaran's life that he moved to Madrid in search of work and renewed his contact with Velazquez. Zurbaran died in poverty and obscurity.

In 1627 he painted the great altarpiece of St. Thomas Aquinas, now in the Seville museum, it was executed for the church of the college of that saint there. This is Zurbaran's largest composition, containing figures of Christ, the Madonna, various saints, Charles V with knights, and Archbishop Deza (founder of the college) with monks and servitors, all the principal personages being more than life-size. It had been preceded by numerous pictures of the screen of St. Peter Nolasco in the cathedral.

In Santa Maria de Guadalupe he painted various large pictures, eight of which relate to the history of St. Jerome, and in the church of Saint Paul, Seville, a famous figure of the Crucified Saviour, in grisaille, creating an illusion of marble. In 1633 he finished the paintings of the high altar of the Carthusians in Jerez. In the palace of Buenretiro, Madrid are four large canvases representing the Labours of Hercules, an unusual instance of non-Christian subjects from the hand of Zurbaran. A fine example of his work is in the National Gallery, London: a whole-length, life-sized figure of a kneeling Franciscan holding a skull. His principal scholars were Bernabe de Ayala and the brothers Polanco (painters).